Now what?

The very proud Hannah herself! If someone was there to take my picture you would see I was even more proud of myself for what I thought was the beginning of a completely successful potty training session!

Above is the look of satisfaction while chewing on a strawberry mentos after going "Pee pee" on the potty! Oh yes... it's that time again. Buying diapers for your child gets really old really fast when you know they know how to use the potty but refuse to!

Our pediatricians suggestion... Guaranteeing me success by the way... Load Hannah with liquids, Let her run around in her birthday suit (at least the lower half), be willing to clean your carpets, but give it 6 straight hours or a stay at home weekend and "pee pee" in the potty is what you'll get... even #2, but I'll spare most of the details! =)

So one of the bazillion benefits of being a stay at home mom means I can choose a day to bust out all of the various drinks a 2yr old likes, have the option of cleaning the carpets (due to the previous loaning of a carpet cleaner when Hannah made mud pies out of the dumb cane pot), and face this potty training thing head on! Remember the pediatrician guaranteed me!

Lunchtime! Yep pushing the liquids even then! I'm surprised she had any room for food!

And success came quick! Shortly after the first "pee pee" in the potty, I left the room to grab a toy only to return to a solo celebration by Hannah because she had went in the potty all on her own!

Sticker chart... Huge success! I found in online and printed it for free! But what you see above is what you get! Hannah caught on real quick and realized I WANTED her to "pee pee" in the potty! Prior to that I can only assume she thought she had figured out something on her own to do that resulted in praise, stickers, or candy. As soon as she realized it was all a ploy by me to get results I wanted, she marched into her room and grabbed a diaper and pants, promtly brought them to me and requested I put them on. After a short struggle and my complete failure to persuade her to continue our fun "game," I placed her back in her diaper and pants. I know if I made her miserable or her potty completely negative I'd never get her on again! What a frustration though! It's obvious she knows what to do and when she should do it... but isn't willing to! Now what?

Addiction to snow

What we've learned from our neighbors is that snow in Nampa is pretty rare. This is an abnormal year, but we are thoroughly enjoying it! Hannah's favorite thing is eating snow. John suggested that we keep a cup in our emergency car kit because when the snow starts falling Hannah immediately request's "Snow cup pleeeeeeeease!". So instead of water with lunch today we had snow!

Hannah knows just how to scoop up the snow minus grass, bark, dirt, or any other foreign object! And as I've said before we constantly reinforce...White snow only! (Don't worry all of the Grandma's and Grandpa's or any other concerned parties out there... we were only outside for approx 45 seconds to scoop up the snow and smile! No fingers or toes were lost to frostbite during this photo shoot! )

TaDa!

(Hannah's favorite exclamation to the completion of anything she is proud of accomplishing!) And as you can see we are waiting on more snow! These pictures were taken just after noon and it looks like dusk! Clouds heavy with snow! Woo! Hoo! Hopefully if John doesn't have to work and if it's not absolutely freezing we will get to go snowshoeing tomorrow! We'll let you know!

And just for a walk down memory lane... Hannah exactly 1 year ago today! Wow has she grown!

The end of another semester...

So we have come to the end of another semester at The Little Gym. Hannah and I go to a "Parent and me" class every Wednesday morning and we both love it! Hannah is able to do somersaults, donkey kicks, monkey jumps... she is able to gallop and wheelbarrel, and even able to back up to a wall... climb up it with her feet until she is in a handstand position! I am even shocked at that one! She is getting really close to being able to walk completely unassisted on the balance beam and growing in so many ways! Her skills are beyond describeable in the blog, she is truly amazing!

The biggest thing Hannah has braved this semester is a somersault on the balance beam. Last semester she wouldn't even attempt it and now it is hard to keep up with her to spot it! The Little Gym has truly been so much fun and has given me so many ideas to keep Hannah active and challenged at home.

Above Hannah is getting her medal for completing this class. Mr. Pat was her teacher and we are excited to see who our teacher will be next semester. We are going to switch to the Friday class so we can be in the same class as Eva and her Mommy Mindy, as Eva is going to start at The Little Gym too!

Hannah was so proud! I haven't been able to take her medal off yet!

This is Hannah not wanting to get down from the "award stand" so she stayed up there to sing the goodbye song...

And the most popular activity among all of the kids... Stamps at the end of class!

Leave it to my Dad...

to make sure I get the best!

Mom and Dad can barely keep me out of the snow and Mom is sick of walking to middle school hill to take me sledding so with all of our new snow Papa made my very own snow hill! Right in our backyard! Take 5 steps out of the back door and let the squealing begin!

It even means I get to go sledding in the dark after he gets home from work, so that's just what we did today!

Anyone wanna come play?

More fun in the snow!

We awoke this morning to a nice surprise... there were actually a couple of inches of snow on the ground! So after returning home we took complete advantage and decided to make a snowman and snowgirls! The sun is really warm and bright today so we had to work fast!

Hannah loves snowmen and we built them right outside our family room window so that she can continue to enjoy them until they are completely melted...

Awwwwwwwww... what a cute picture of Hannah hugging the "snowmommy" but truth be told... We used swedish fish as their mouths and she was just getting close enough so that she could grab onto one with her teeth and have a little snack!

And we present to you... The SnowDaurers! (About 15minutes ago Hannah's head fell off, I have a lazy eye and my nose is missing, Sadie ate my hair, but John is still standing strong!

Dressing up is so much fun!

Since Hannah Joy came over to play, the girls decided to take complete advantage of their time and play dress up!

After getting dressed the girls decided to do each others hair.

We couldn't get the dresses off of them all night!

I think Hannah actually takes after me (Christina) when it comes to getting her picture taken... I have multiple pics from childhood with me sticking out my tongue!

After dinner at a fancy restaurant (our kitchen) the girls decided it was time to make dessert.

They just couldn't agree on where to cook their ice cream... Hannah Joy thought it should go in the microwave and Hannah Grace was convinced it should be cooked on the stovetop!

So Hannah Joy made a couple of phone calls and was able to get the correct recipe with the correct method of cooking...

And above are the finished products!

That were thoroughly enjoyed! The girls were so proud of themselves!

And just like the amazing children they are... Right after dinner and dessert they went straight to their homework and practiced their recognition of letters and the beginning of writing their ABC's. (Okay... maybe I was just lucky to get this picture before they were fighting over the toy, but their sharing has improved by 10,000%!!)

So finally after all of the hardwork the girls put into getting ready, cooking both dinner and dessert, and even squeezing in a little bit of studying... we were able to get front row seats to their concert! It was the best so I'd thought we'd share!